There is no denying that whenever most of us think of joining a gym, the vision of a chiselled torso with defined abs is always on the back of our minds. Now, what if we told you that training and sculpting your midsection is something that can also be done at home? It’s true! There are usually two steps involved in the process of building abs, losing the excess belly fat and building and strengthening your abdominal muscles- both of which do not compulsorily require high-tech, expensive gym machinery.
Here is a complete guide to mastering these abs workout at home and ensuring that you get the best results from them:
Contents
Know your body
Before starting any workout, the first step should be assessing your body type, fat percentage, and muscle mass. It will help you construct a diet accordingly and tell you what workouts will work for you and what won’t. Also, you will compare your results with these values later as a bonus!
Make cardio your best friend
Cardio exercises, also called aerobic exercises, benefit your body by raising your heart rate to its maximum, at which point your body loses most calories and sheds fat. Once you have made up your mind about practising abs workout at home, start with making a beginner’s cardio routine with different exercises that will engage the entire abdomen- internal and external obliques and transversus and rectus abdominis in one session. Exercises like bird dogs, side planks, mountain climbers, crunches, jumping jacks, flutter kicks and glute bridges are perfect if you are working out after a long time.
Workout in the mornings
Be it yoga or cardio or dancing or any other exercise, it has been scientifically proven that doing them in the mornings gives better results. A morning routine will help you maintain consistency, increase your metabolic rate, and improve sleep quality. In addition, morning workouts will make you hungrier and compel you not to miss breakfast, the most important meal of the day and retain energy levels throughout the day, keeping unnecessary food cravings at bay.
Make necessary changes in your diet
If you want to make changes to your body, you will have to upgrade to a healthier diet. To build muscle, incorporate more protein and healthy fat sources like eggs, milk, lean meats, tofu, beans, yoghurt, nuts like walnuts and almonds in your meals. In addition, fibrous vegetables and fruits will stop you from overeating by making you fuller in smaller portions. Also, you might want to cut out calories to create a deficit, so the body uses up the stored fat for energy.
Include strength training
Once you have crossed the beginner’s threshold, move on to the more intense formats. Start including weights and resistance bands in your sessions. Squats, lunges, deadlifts and hinges are some hip-dominant exercises you can do with weights and dumbbells.
In conclusion, the key to getting optimal results out of your abs workout at home is to take it slow, do not overexert your body, keep realistic goals and work towards achieving them through well-planned sessions and diets.